Sweet Harmony: Exploring The Rave Scene

Sweet Harmony is an exhibition [currently on show at Saatchi Gallery, London] that explores the rave scene and develops a voice of those that experienced rave culture at its most intense, from the 80s until now.

FACT: The first raves were jazz-dance parties held in dark Soho basements in early 1950’s, without a DJ in sight.

Rave and Raving were commonly used terms in the 1980’s to describe any late-night knees-up, from a house party to club or an illegal warehouse rave. Unlike the style-conscious Soho club scene, warehouse parties didn’t have dress codes. [voice of Dave Swindells]

1: THE MEET

Unlike the detail in which modern invites are distributed, the first rave events were organised using one telephone number and a meet place, usually a service station. Young people would gather and no one would know if was even going to be on- ‘you’d be like, “Is it on? Is the rave on? It was incredible’.[voice of Lee Garrick, club promotor]

‘Finally, someone would run from a phone box or wave a chunky mobile screaming “It’s on! It’s on!”’

2: CASE STUDY

Le Crowbar, Le Crowbar Café

A movement created by Tom Hunter in 1995, he and a group of friends left a squatted street in our very own Hackney, London in a double decker bus and ventured on a journey. It took them through folk festivals in France, teknivals in Czech Republic, hippie gatherings in Austria and beach parties in Spain.

Then formed Le Crowbar Café- a community hungry for all night food and a break from hardcore techno. To us, this sends a message of friendship, unity, living on the road and not giving one ****.

We want in! We like to party too, and we’ve got a few outfits we think would look great on a night out. So take your pic! Let us know you’re preferred party fit.

3: EXTRA COOL STUFF

Just as something extra to look at, here’s a collection of over 1,500 fliers from 80s and 90s Berlin raves, collected by “ “. We love how simple they are!